Eddie Izzard does stand-up comedy. In heels, at that. But to describe his act as stand-up comedy is probably a little like saying that the Monty Python troupe does sketch comedy. It's true, as far as it goes, but it's not particularly descriptive or enlightening.
"Saw"'s just the trick for celebrating Halloween, providing you're not one of those benighted souls who smugly diss the pleasures of horror movies. A smart, gruesome, psychologically harrowing puzzle piece, this low (low) budget debut by two Australian film-school grads - director-writer James Wan and cowriter-costar Leigh Whannell - just plain crackles with talent and originality. Back in the '40s, Hollywood producer Val Lewton showed how to make scarily poetic horror movies ("Cat People," "I Walked with a Zombie") on a dime. Proving that less can be more in a genre that thrives on suggestive shadowplay, he demonstrated that only poverty-stricken imaginations are handicapped by having to shoot on the cheap.
"I ran into this young lady. I just happened to go into the Bank of America and there was one of my former students, working as a teller. She's married now, has two kids and is doing really well. She gave me her business card. It made me feel good. It made me feel very old, too," Henry Delle Chiare, 50, said.
I hate simplemindedness, hate kneejerk politics - anybody's kneejerk politics. I hate Islamo-fascists who want to destroy anything they see as thwarting the Will of Allah (and I'm betting Allah hates them, too).
After 25 years of getting paid for writing, although I haven't lost my faith in language, I have learned to question whether most folks who read newspapers and magazines even halfheartedly worship in my Church of the Word.
My column of Aug. 13 enti-tled "Seattle Opera's white-haired boy" aroused so much interest I am encouraged to continue the Speight Jenkins Saga, which I can report on firsthand, having been present at the opening of all the operas under Speight Jen-kins' direction for the past 20 years.
At the ceremony celebrating the completion of the Aurora Bridge in 1932, Navy biplanes flew under the new bridge. Young Bill Powers was so thrilled by the spectacle that he decided to be a pilot when he grew up.But when he did grow up, and tried to fly a plane, he was grounded. By airsickness. He became an attorney instead.Bill was born April 16, 1920, in Seattle, the fifth of eight children. Except for college, law school and service in World War II, he has lived on Queen Anne all his life.His father, a general contractor and developer, built upwards of 200 houses in Queen Anne as well as the convent at St. Anne's Church. He also built the house in which Bill grew up, on West Ray Street. (Before Zip codes, Ray and Roy streets were often confused, so an "e" was eventually added to the spelling of Raye.)
You may have seen the commercials advertising an all-week shark fest on The Discovery Channel. People were standing around pools or hot tubs with looks of consternation on their faces. Do I go in? Do I stay out? Do I stand here wearing my flippers and goggles listening to the soundtrack from "Jaws" playing in my head until I see a fin?
As far as Queen Anne resident Jeffrey Ochsner is concerned, the proposed 14-mile monorail system would be an expensive boondoggle that would do little to relieve traffic congestion in Seattle.
The West Galer Street flyover has been in operation for a few months near the foot of the Magnolia Bridge carrying traffic above Elliott Avenue West and the railroad tracks to reach businesses and waterfront parks to the west. But, despite the new overhead route, traffic has still increased on the West Galer surface street where it crosses the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad tracks at ground level, according to Jim Smith.
The Elevated Transportation Company (ETC) is facing a Gordian knot of choices for its proposed monorail route through the Uptown planning area of lower Queen Anne.
On a daily basis, 25 to 30 teens invade the zoo to actively help conservation of wildlife. They educate zoo visitors in the family garden about various topics such as worm composition. They also help children pet bunnies and milk an artificial cow in the Discovery Barn.
Initiative 80, which aims to protect and preserve Seattle creeks, has collected the 22,000 signatures it needs to be placed on the Sept. 16 ballot. However, a state Superior Court judge - considering testimony from the city attorney and concerned developers - has deemed it unfit for public vote.
The Seattle parks department closed Green Lake early to some activities because of the presence of a liver toxin in the water in amounts exceeding the World Health Organization's (WHO) standards.
They say old soldiers never die, and now Roz Kuring is proving "mature actors" never lose their pizzazz as she and three other veteran actresses perform "Age Puzzles Me" at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center this fall.This is the first project of the new Senior Theatre Program at the arts center. Kuring directs and acts in the performance. The presentation presents two sketches and several songs by the four-member cast, all of whom are at an age where good parts are sometimes hard to come by.
This week marks the first anniversary of the unimaginable in America, and much has changed in the country - for both the better and the worse, according to neighborhood residents. On the plus side, the terrorist attacks served to unite an outraged country - at least initially, according to State Sen. and Queen Anne resident Jeanne Kohl-Welles.
